Latest news with #Kirkwood
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
'We should beat him': Kyle Kirkwood's win gives Andretti Global confidence it can beat Alex Palou
DETROIT — Kyle Kirkwood started to crack a wide smile, but the Andretti Global driver quickly caught himself. A driver sailing into the wall on a late-race restart while trailing the car that would eventually finish third isn't a laughing matter, but then again, being on the wrong side of the better part of three months of Alex Palou's nearly unceasing domination of the 2025 IndyCar campaign has left the championship leader's rivals with in peculiar emotional spot. Do you step back and appreciate the history you're witnessing — a start to an IndyCar season not duplicated since 1979? Do you let the Chip Ganassi Racing Driver's five wins in six starts, including his first Indianapolis 500, agitate you to no end? Do you do your best to ignore it and shrug off references to a triple-digit championship gap while nearly every week getting asked questions about it again and again? And so when Kirkwood was asked whether his strategist Bryan Herta told the eventual Detroit Grand Prix race-winner over the radio that Palou had crashed out of Sunday's action on a Lap 72 restart — to no fault of the Ganassi driver's own — Kirkwood began to smile, as he said, 'No he didn't, but I knew it.' 'I shouldn't be smiling thinking that, but I knew that he crashed, and I knew we needed to capitalize on some points today, given the outcome for him,' Kirkwood continued. 'I feel bad for him, but this also does help us a lot with the points.' For weeks, if not months, Palou's rivals had been trying their darndest to speak into the existence of Palou's IndyCar reign — frankly not knowing what else to do as the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10 team, led by lead engineer Julian Robertson, crew chief Ricky Davis and strategist Barry Wanser, made the right calls at every turn, executed flawless pit stops at every opportunity and engineered a speedy race car at all sorts of circuits — all with a three-time series champion in the cockpit to boot. And yet, as Palou learned the hard way during his first championship run at World Wide Technology Raceway, sometimes chaos can creep up behind you and tag you at a moment's notice with a simple lock of a trailing car's tires. 'Time will tell. You don't know if this run ends this weekend or next weekend or the weekend after. You have no idea,' fourth-place championship challenger Christian Lundgaard said Friday in Detroit. 'But you guys know as well as we do that (Palou's) run is going to end at some point. He can't win the rest of the races for the rest of this life. 'But the smallest little bit of contact, and he's out of the race. It could be his fault or not, and that can end his streak.' That's precisely how Palou's 112-point championship lead on Pato O'Ward, who finished third in the Indy 500 but lost 15 points on the runaway championship leader, shrunk back to double digits at 90 points at the checkered flag of the Detroit Grand Prix, despite a rather lackluster race weekend from the young Mexican driver that saw O'Ward only finish seventh. And it's how Kirkwood, who at the checkered flag of last weekend's 500 appeared to be trailing Palou by 126 points, only for a post-race tech inspection failure to widen that gap to 150, now sits 102 points back after his second win of the year, still as IndyCar's only non-Palou race winner through seven of 17 events this year. A race that had featured two instances of loose wheel-induced crashes and a beef-sparking spin was set to restart with just under 30 laps to go, following a caution to clear Callum Ilott's mangled No. 90 Prema Racing Chevy off the track. To their incredibly good fortune, Santino Ferrucci, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong had pitted from 15th, 16th and 19th, respectively, just a couple laps before Ilott's day would come to an end, leaving the trio in the catbird seat as the other 22 cars dove into the pits, leaving them suddenly running 1-2-3 on equal strategy to the rest of the field, forced to fend off a hard-charging pack of five cars that had run up at the front virtually the entire day, but instead of first through fifth, now occupied fourth through eighth. Back to the Motor City: IndyCar to return to Detroit Grand Prix for at least 3 more years Whether or not they leapfrogged the new cars ahead or not, Kirkwood, Will Power and Colton Herta (who ran 1-2-3 before the caution and 4-5-6 at the time of the restart) were in line at the moment to make up some chunk of points on Palou, who sat seventh in line at the time of the return to green flag racing, but whether that bite out of Palou's lead would be meaningful or marginal would depend on how effective a sprint to the finish they'd go on to make. 'We had to pass some cars out there,' Kirkwood said. 'It was some low-percentage moves, I'm not going to lie, that I made. But you have to on street courses.' One corner after a return to green-flag racing, not a low-percentage move, but locked up tires from the car trailing behind of AJ Foyt Racing's David Malukas sent the No. 4 Chevy skidding into the back of Palou and ended with the No. 10 in the tires and Palou's day done down in 25th. 'It's very unfortunate after an amazing recovery this weekend when we didn't have much pace,' Palou told the Fox broadcast after being released from the infield care center. 'It doesn't feel great, but there's not much we could've done there.' As he cycled around and saw the AMR Safety Team trucks flanking the yellow and red machine of the championship leader, Kirkwood said he didn't so much change his focus, but he realized this even deeper: 'I need to win this race," he said. 'I'd known that anywhere we ended up toward the front that we were going to have a good points day, and that was going to help us a lot.' Notably, O'Ward, Lundgaard (fourth in the championship, eighth in Sunday's race) and Felix Rosenqvist (sixth in the championship, 21st in Sunday's race after a late crash) weren't his direct late-race competitors, which made the precise spot Kirkwood finished less of a major hang-up. And yet, IndyCar's proverbial street course king — winner of four of IndyCar's last 11 street races — motored up to the front for what was a relatively comfortable victory by the checkered flag, even after weathering a late-race red flag that bunched back up the field behind Kirkwood with 12 laps to go. 'I'm fine with that,' Kirkwood said, when asked about the importance of both his win and Palou's DNF that handed the championship leader just five points compared to Kirkwood's 53. 'It's super important, but we've got to keep doing it. 'As we know (Palou) can skip out on still a handful more races and be absolutely fine. It's unfortunate for him that he ended up in the wall, but it actually helps us a lot in the championship. It puts us …' And then reality set in for Kirkwood, as he was clarified of the massive undertaking that still lies ahead with 10 races to go. '102 points? That's still a mile away, but it puts you back in a position where you feel like you might be able to get that back,' he continued. 'But I'm sure we're going to go to road courses, and Palou is going to do his thing. So we'll see what happens.' First is a stop at World Wide Technology Raceway, perhaps a proving ground for an Andretti Global group that increasingly over last year has found race-winning short oval pace that had been missing from the team for years. Down the stretch a year ago, Herta found himself in the thick of the fight during a late-race restart, and at the next couple ovals on the calendar, the No. 26 driver would log a podium (The Milwaukee Mile) and his first oval win (Nashville Superspeedway), while Kirkwood took pole in the Nashville finale and found himself disappointed in fourth place by race's end. Palou, though, finished 3-for-6 on short oval top 5s in 2024 and now can call himself an IndyCar oval winner after the 500, and at the two races that follow next on the calendar, Road America and Mid-Ohio, the Spaniard has logged seven top-4 finishes in eight combined starts during his CGR tenure, including three wins and a sweep of the two-race stretch in 2023. As Kirkwood pointed out, super-abrasive road courses like The Thermal Club, Barber Motorsports Park and the IMS road course, a trio that Palou swept in 2025, are done for 2025, and the Andretti Global camp feels relatively confident in their increasingly competitive traditional IndyCar road course package. But already with five wins in seven starts in 2025, with four tracks left where Palou has won before in his still relatively young IndyCar career, it's pertinent to capitalize massively on any other days like Sunday. 'We've just got to get back to our winning ways,' Kirkwood said. 'Because we can't let him win any more races.' Added Herta earlier this weekend: 'I know we can beat (Palou). I know if we do all the right stuff, we have a really good chance to beat him, and we should beat him if we do everything the right way.
The Herald
2 hours ago
- Business
- The Herald
Improving literacy key to breaking cycle of poverty
A report by the 2030 Reading Panel, chaired by former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has laid bare the devastating state of literacy in SA. A staggering 80% of grade 3 pupils cannot read for meaning in any language. In the foundational phase of education, when children should be learning the basics of reading and comprehension, SA is failing most of its young learners. At schools like Bongolethu and Glentana Junior Primary, in Nqweba (formerly Kirkwood) the situation is dire. The shortage of classrooms and qualified teachers is so acute that principals have begged for container classrooms just to reduce overcrowding. Teachers manage classes of up to 70 children, making one-on-one instruction impossible. With no libraries, limited books, and little to no security, these schools are trying to operate under conditions that make meaningful learning nearly impossible. The collapse of foundational literacy is a social emergency. Illiteracy affects a child's ability to succeed across all subjects and it affects their ability to participate in society, find employment, and break the cycle of poverty. As noted by education expert Mary Metcalfe, children who cannot read by grade 4 fall further behind each year as the curriculum becomes increasingly reliant on reading skills. Without urgent intervention, these children are being set up for systemic exclusion. The 2024 Reading Panel report makes it clear that SA is producing only half the number of foundation-phase teachers it needs. Early learning programmes reach too few children, with more than a million aged 3 to 5 still not enrolled. And the country spends a mere 0.5% of its budget on ECD, which is far below what is needed to build a literate future. We know what is possible when effort is put into grassroots literacy, as evidenced at schools like Astra Primary. The Gqeberha school launched a literacy initiative centre in 2019 that has reshaped classroom culture and sparked a love of reading. The results are tangible and it has started a movement of sorts that is spreading throughout the community, though space is limited. Over three weeks, The Herald, Daily Dispatch and Sowetan take a deep dive into the state of reading in SA, sharing lessons that would, we hope, spark necessary action and change to improve literacy levels. Our 'Turning the Page' project was made possible by the Henry Nxumalo Foundation. The Herald
Fox Sports
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Detroit Grand Prix takeaways: Kyle Kirkwood's second 2025 win leads U.S.-born podium
DETROIT — Alex Palou 5, Kyle Kirkwood 2. That's the score when it comes to INDYCAR wins this year, with Kirkwood picking up his second victory of the season at the Detroit Grand Prix, where Palou got wrecked but didn't seem to have the pace to match Kirkwood. "I knew we were going to have a good points day — I wanted to keep it clean because of [Palou's crash]," Kirkwood said. "But also, I was like, 'I've got to win this race.'" The Andretti driver has earned both of his wins on street courses (his first of the year came at Long Beach) and even with the victory and Palou's 25th-place finish, Kirkwood still sits 102 points behind Palou in the standings, nearly a two-race gap with 10 races remaining in the season. "That's still a mile away, but it puts you back in a position where you feel like you might be able to get that back," Kirkwood said. "But I'm sure we're going to go to road courses and Palou is going to do his thing. So we'll see what happens." Takeaways from Detroit, which capped a five-week stretch where INDYCAR drivers were on-track every weekend: All-American Podium The podium (top-three) finishers were all born in the United States, a first for the INDYCAR series since Mid-Ohio in July 2020 when Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay went 1-2-3 in an Andretti sweep. Kirkwood and Herta (third) gave Andretti two of the spots, with A.J. Foty Racing's Santino Ferrucci finishing second. The Indianapolis 500 last week had 14 countries represented in the 33-car field. The full-time 27 drivers hail from 12 different countries: 11 drivers from the United States; three from New Zealand; two from Denmark and Sweden and England; and one from Mexico, Cayman Islands, Spain, Australia, Netherlands, Canada and Israel. "We have one of the most diverse series in the world, I think, and it's good to have the U.S. back on top," Kirkwood said. "I'm not going to lie; that's pretty cool, actually. I'm stoked with that." Herta said just the fact the series has such an international flavor is cool. As far as the all-U.S. podium? "It doesn't matter," Herta said. "It's cool, especially with a series that has become so international on the driver side, ... getting walks of life in the series. "It really just amps the competitiveness up and brings the best drivers." Kirkwood and Ferrucci have raced against each other since they were six years old. "There's a lot of really good, talented Americans in the sport, but a big part of the sport is having all these different drivers from different countries that make it so great, make it so talented, make the depth of the grid so powerful," Ferrucci said. "But it is really cool to be on the podium with two fellow race-car drivers that I grew up racing against from go-karts all the way to INDYCAR." Palou Wrecked By Malukas Palou was knocked out of the race when he was sent into the wall by David Malukas, who hit Palou when going into a turn on a restart. "I just ran out of talent," Malukas said. "I feel so bad. I tried to slow it down and just locked up both front breaks. We were struggling so hard compared to other people, just to get tire temps, to get break temps [high enough]. ... I just really messed that up so bad." Malukas was given a stop-and-go penalty for the contact, but that was little consolation to Palou. "It just sucks when you get taken out when it's early on and nothing that I could have done, in my opinion, so just a shame," Palou said. "I haven't seen the video yet. "But he's still out there, right? And I'm down here with a broken car. So not ideal." Malukas wasn't the only driver to be penalized for avoidable contact. Scott McLaughlin was penalized early for getting into the back and turning Nolan Siegel. "I went for the move," McLaughlin said. "I feel like he moved on the brakes and then basically stopped. I was sort of really committed to the move, but ultimately I can see why [they penalized me]. "Normally, when the car makes contact from behind, you're in trouble. But I feel like the kid was trying to move a little bit. It's probably ambition on my part." That contact resulted in a little bit of a beef on X after Siegel's boss, Arrow McLaren Racing team principal Tony Kanaan posted a replay of the accident with the comment "Oh." This followed: Kirkwood Triumphs After Rough Weeks Kirkwood's win followed an emotional six days in which he thought he finished seventh in the Indianapolis 500 but then saw the finish stripped away and turned into a 32nd-place finish for failing postrace tech. After a notable incident in practice where Will Power pushed and turned Kirkwood, he ended up third in qualifying. "I've gotten every emotion that I've ever had in motorsports," Kirkwood said. "We had a phenomenal 500, and I got every emotion in the 500 alone. ... Obviously, drama through the week and then coming into this weekend where we knew we'd be fast. "We were extremely fast, I kind of threw it away a little bit in qualifying, but then got some of that positivity back, or all of it I should say, back here today and put an exclamation point on everything that has happened." That in some ways is just the nature of the sport. "That's motor racing for you," Kirkwood said. "You get all the emotions. You get the highs; you get the lows. That's what we live for. "We live for the highs, but we also enjoy the lows when you look back at it, because it makes the highs even that much sweeter." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Get more from NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
France 24
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- France 24
Kirkwood holds off Ferrucci to grab second IndyCar win of 2025
Kirkwood captured his fourth career IndyCar race and second of the year after an April victory at Long Beach and moved into second in the season points chase, 78 back of leader Alex Palou, the Indianapolis 500 winner. Kirkwood, who started third, won after 100 laps over a 1.645-mile, nine-turn temporary street course in downtown Detroit. All of his IndyCar wins have come on temporary street circuits. The 26-year-old from Florida charged to the finish line despite a damaged left front wing. "It was damaged but it wasn't causing that much of an issue," said Kirkwood. "This (car) was unreal all weekend long. "There were some challenges out there for sure. We had to pass our way back through a handful of times. It was definitely not a walk in the park especially with that front wing damage. We did lose a little performance but at the end it felt fine." Runner-up Ferrucci enjoyed his career-best finish with Herta next followed by Australian Will Power and Cayman Islander Kyffin Simpson. Spain's Palou could not take his sixth win in seven races this season after crashing out, settling for 25th, but led with 311 season points. A crash by Britain's Callum Ilott sent leader Kirkwood and those just behind him Herta, Power, Palou and David Malukas -- heading for the pit lane with 30 laps remaining. Ferrucci, Simpson and New Zealand's Marcus Armstrong -- none of whom has won an IndyCar race -- stayed out to hold the top spots with Kirkwood just behind after refueling. Malukas nudged Palou into a tire barrier for a crash that ended his race moments after a lap-28 restart to force another restart with 24 laps remaining. "Somebody hit me from behind. It's unfortunate," Palou said. "We were looking good to get to the podium." Not since 2000 has the Indy 500 winner captured the next IndyCar race as well. Despite left front wing damage, Kirkwood surged past the lead trio, going inside Ferrucci to grab the lead with 22 laps to go. "On restarts the car just came alive," Kirkwood said. Power grabbed second from Ferrucci with 17 laps remaining just before Sweden's Felix Rosenqvist and British rookie Louis Foster crashed into tire barriers, red-flagging the race while the barriers were repaired. Kirkwood surged ahead of Power on a restart with 11 laps to go and Ferrucci overtook the Aussie on the next lap but couldn't catch Kirkwood.
Fox Sports
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Paddock Buzz: Kyle Kirkwood Laments Missed Chance for Pole
INDYCAR Kyle Kirkwood rued what could have been an NTT P1 Award performance for Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, but he instead starts third in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda after making wall contact in Turn 3 during qualifying Saturday. His fastest lap, 1 minute, .7312 of a second, was compromised when he broke a toe link during the Firestone Fast Six, relegating him to the second row for Sunday's 100-lap race airing at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio Network. His lap was trending toward pole. 'I've never been more disappointed with a third in my life,' Kirkwood said. 'I know I threw away a pole, without a doubt.' His frustration is amplified by his pattern of near-misses on this track, but he remains optimistic. His teammate Colton Herta snagged the NTT P1 Award in his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda, giving Andretti Global the top starting spot. Kirkwood, while disappointed, found some consolation. 'I'm glad one of us got it because it would have been very disappointing if none of us got it,' Kirkwood said. Despite the qualifying hiccup, Kirkwood is poised for a strong showing. His street course record backs it up. All three of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES victories have come on street circuits, including twice at Long Beach (2023, 2025) and once in Nashville (2023). He led 46 of 90 laps from the pole in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13. He's also steadily climbed around the 1.645-mile downtown Detroit street circuit, improving from eighth in 2023 to fourth last year. 'The car is fast,' he said. 'We're really good for the race. We're starting in a good spot.' Andretti Global Best Positioned To Top Palou? Runaway NTT INDYCAR SERIES leader Alex Palou qualified sixth in his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He shifts to fifth due to Graham Rahal's six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change before last Sunday's 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. 2023 Detroit race winner Palou has three consecutive wins in a Month of May sweep of the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix presented by AmFirst on May 4, the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 10 and the '500' on May 25. Most drivers believe Palou's reign will end, maybe even Sunday. Last year, Palou started second but finished 16th. 'He can't win them all,' Arrow McLaren rival Christian Lundgaard said. Lundgaard is third in points and starts fourth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. He finished eighth on the streets of St. Petersburg and third at Long Beach this season. Lundgaard and Palou may have to beat Andretti Global. It's the only organization to beat Palou this season with Kirkwood's Long Beach victory. Looking ahead, Andretti drivers believe they have among the strongest cars on both street circuits and short ovals. Those disciplines of tracks comprise five of the next seven races. The series races July 20 on the streets of Toronto, where Herta beat Kirkwood in an Andretti Global 1-2 finish last year. Between Detroit and Toronto is World Wide Technology Raceway (June 15), Road America (June 22), Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (July 6) and an Iowa Speedway doubleheader (July 12-13). Andretti Global earned an oval victory with Herta in the season finale last year at Nashville Superspeedway. Kirkwood started on the pole there and led the most laps. 'I know we can beat him,' Herta said of Palou. 'If we do the right stuff, we have a really good chance here to beat him. We should beat him if we do everything the right way. 'We do have the speed to win. I think we've made mistakes this year and it's been disappointing, but I think if we focus on us and do what we need to do, we should be able to beat him.' RLL Eyeing Momentum in Motor City Rahal enters Sunday's race with cautious optimism, hoping to convert recent progress into long-awaited results on the downtown street circuit. He swept the 2017 doubleheader on the Belle Isle circuit, marking his most recent INDYCAR SERIES victory – 131 races ago. Rahal believes he had a chance to end that drought. He qualified fifth in his No. 15 JJ Curran Crane Company Honda but will drop six spots due to an unapproved engine change penalty stemming from his mechanical failure on Miller Lite Carb Day, prompting an engine change before the '500.' 'I feel pretty good even starting 11th,' Rahal said. 'The car has been really shocking to drive all weekend. I say shocking because we've not been good here at all.' Rahal finished 15th at Detroit last year and 25th in 2023. Starting in Row 6 on a bumpy, tight Detroit street circuit, Rahal believes this car allows him the aggression and confidence to march through the field. Rahal also points to tangible evidence the entire organization is on the rise. All three RLL cars reached the Firestone Fast Six in the Sonsio Grand Prix, including Rahal starting second. Then, all four RLL entries finished in the top 17 in the '500,' including part-time driver Takuma Sato, who led the most laps (51) in a ninth-place effort, and a career-best finish from Devlin DeFrancesco (11th). Rookie Louis Foster (12th) was one-spot off his career best finish, which happened in the previous race, the Sonsio Grand Prix, in which he finished 11th. Foster was eighth and fifth quickest, respectively, in practice this weekend in his No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda and starts 14th. He was .0081 away from advancing to the Top 12. DeFrancesco was 14th on Saturday morning but starts 23rd in the No. 30 EVTEC Honda. 'I feel like we are getting better, period,' Rahal said. 'I think we are a team on the rise. I know people don't like to believe that, but I think it's true. I feel like this is a sign because all of us, Louis and I, in particular, and even Dev, have been quite fast.' VeeKay Thinks DCR Changes Will Boost Results Rinus VeeKay already noticed Michael Cannon's effect in the first weekend of Cannon returning to Dale Coyne Racing. Cannon spent six years (2014-19) engineering for the organization. He served as an engineer in recent seasons for Chip Ganassi Racing and AJ Foyt Racing. Cannon is VeeKay's engineer on the No. 18 askROI Honda and was part of a personnel shakeup after the '500' that also saw Mike Colliver return to the team to lead engineer Jacob Abel's No. 51 Blue Oval SK Honda. VeeKay was ninth in opening practice Friday and qualified a season-best seventh Saturday. 'The car was on rails out there,' VeeKay said. 'I could really drive the car. The car wasn't driving me this time. We've got the Albert Einstein (Cannon) of INDYCAR on the pit stand right now. The experience that Michael Cannon has right now is insane.' VeeKay is 12th in points with three top-10 finishes this season. His best Detroit finish on this street circuit is 14th for Ed Carpenter Racing last season. Odds and Ends Following Friday's practice mishap between Will Power and Kirkwood, the two shared many laughs before Saturday morning practice and admitted to no animosity. Five drivers have completed all 630 laps this season: Kirkwood, Lundgaard, Pato O'Ward, Palou and Felix Rosenqvist. Herta earned his 15th career pole. He has converted five of those previous 14 poles into victories, including last July on the streets of Toronto. He finished 18th from the pole here last year. Defending Detroit winner Scott Dixon qualified 10th, but like Rahal, faces a six-spot grid penalty for an engine change before the '500.' He will start 16th. Tony Kanaan will be the guest analyst for Sunday's INDY NXT by Firestone race airing at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1. Andretti Global rookie teammates Dennis Hauger and Lochie Hughes share the front row. recommended
